Forgotten Night
by Luna Sealeaf
Summary: A mistake made by Harper causes an awkward situation...
1. Default Chapter

Hey everyone! This is Luna Sealeaf, and before you all give me tons of wonderful credit for the awesome story, I should explain that I'm just posting for someone else who didn't want to deal with becoming a member, at least not yet.  
  
The true author is DeirdreMDRD and she promises me that she'll have the next part up soon...

Disclaimer: All characters and universes belong to Andromeda, but the story is that of the author's. Don't sue, as no profit is being made.

Archive: Ask first please

Chapter 1:  
Vacation  
  
Harper heaved a heavy sigh as he let his end of the crate he was carrying gently fall to the Maru's floorboards. Beka rolled her eyes as she too dropped the crate, "Your still not upset over what happened in the bar are you?" She eyed her young engineer as she closed the Maru's main airlock. The younger man just sighed and shrugged his shoulder as he sat heavily down onto the crate he had moments before carried in.  
  
"How could he do it Beka? How could Dylan forget to order my beer, and not just any beer but my one and only personal favorite Wiesbrau?" He heaved a sigh and his faced contorted into its usual pitiful look of despair. "But not only that, he forgot my Sparky Cola. How am I supposed to live without my Sparky?!" He frowned up at her for a moment his thoughts moving a mile a minute. "Waaaaiit, a minute; this is all Trance's fault. I just knew she was up to something, she might look all cute and purplie but she's devious..." He started ranting as he pulled one of the few beers he had left out of the cupboards of what served as the Maru's mess hall.  
  
Beka just followed behind, a grin spreading across her face as he ranted. "Wait, so how does this turn out to be Trance's fault?" She asked her grin widening as she thought she might already know the answer. She did.  
  
"Remember last month when I got that cold and Trance said I had to drink water and not anymore Sparky for the next week? Something about being dehydrated or something, I don' know. Well she caught me with a can of it in Machine Shop 4, she didn't say anything, but she gave me one of those looks. Ya know, one of those Trance looks that say 'Harper, I warned you.' I betcha she talked to Dylan and she's paying me back for not listening to her."  
  
Harper kept on ranting, but by then Beka had just softly laughed at her younger companion and headed towards command. Sitting in the pilots chair she laughed at the past antics of her younger crew men. Trance and Harper always seemed to play small pranks on each other, some of them very amusing. However sitting there plotting her course back to the Andromeda she never knew what was coming. She wouldn't know until it was too late, that sometimes the biggest prankster was the Universe and she was its next target; well, one of them.....  
  
Two days later  
Andromeda  
  
Dylan leaned against the doorway to the Machine Shop. His eyes following the ever energetic engineer working on one of his numerous pet projects. The old earth music, rock music Dylan seemed to remember Harper calling it, blaring in the room efficiently hid the captains' entrance to the shop. He stood watching the young man. He seemed in high spirits; despite the fact he was nearly out of beer and had finished the distasteful cola he consumed like water, the day before.  
  
In the last 10 months Dylan had come realize just how unique his crew was, perhaps the most obvious (aside from the purple girl) was indeed this young, brilliant engineer. Many words came to mind when Harper crossed one's thoughts but he had to admit each brought a grin to mind. Of course the occasional worried frown sometimes followed but hey, this was Harper he was thinking of.  
  
Noticing Harper had shut off his nanowelder and had set it on the table before him, Dylan decided it was safe to make his presence known. Stepping up behind the distracted youth he reached out with one hand and gently touched his shoulder.  
  
"Ahhhh, What the fu..?" jumping half a foot off the ground Harper whipped around, his wide eyes searching for the cause of his distress only to relax an instant later. Leaning one arm onto the table beside him and the other over his heart he took a deep breath.  
  
"Ya mind not sneaking up on guy like that. Geeze, I think you just took a year off my life." Dylan had the decency to look apologetic.  
  
"Ahh, yeah... Sorry. I just thought you might like to know you and Beka can take off for your shore leave anytime now. Thanks to you two we have the supplies we needed and since you've finished the upgrades we don't have any more immediate problems that need attention, so you are free to leave anytime." Dylan smiled politely before turning and heading back to his own quarters. Harper on the other hand smiled the smile that only the truly mischievous seem to have, as he settled back into his work and his plans for his vacation started to form.  
  
Luminar, a surfer's dream vacation spot with crystal clear water, white sandy beaches, and no worries of being attacked by any unseen predators lurking beneath the waves.  
  
The locals were well known for many things; their obsessions for keeping things organized and clean, their pride in their work, and most of all the love they had for tourists -or more to the point; the money tourists brought with them.  
  
Beka sat in the beautifully carved chair on the deck of their room. It wasn't the upscale ritzy type one would likely find further up town but it was perfect for her and Harper. The rooms were actually small lodges with two bedrooms and windows as tall as Harper on nearly every wall. Best of all was the back door that opened onto a deck that let off right onto the beach. For the last 12 days she and Harper had enjoyed the peaceful carefree world. Several times they had ventured further into the city to shop (Beka promised to bring Trance a souvenir) and also on nights they craved a little non-life threatening excitement they had found a club or two to let loose.  
  
Looking up from her book she watched the short engineer come bounding up the beach, his rented surfboard underarm. His normally spiky hair was still wet and more wild than normal. Even out on the beach Harper had on a blue sleeveless shirt that matched his swim-shorts. Beka had learned not too long after Harper had come aboard her ship that there were certain things you just didn't ask or talk about with Harper, why he wore a shirt all the time was one of those things. She had tried to ask him about it their first time out on the beach and he had snapped at her that he burned easily and that was it. She of course couldn't argue with that, but she had her suspicions that there was more to it, but she never brought up the issue again.  
"The water's great. To bad we only have two days left." He sighed and sat in a chair next to her with exactly the same design carved into it. He pulled out a beer from the small cooler before sitting back in the chair and getting comfortable. His skin had tanned greatly during his time spent in the sun which only made his blue eyes seem so much brighter than normal. Beka smiled; she hadn't seen him this relaxed in a long time. So much had happened in the last year. Nearly a year ago they had joined the Andromeda and during that time they had been, well.... Busy.  
  
"Yeah it is a shame. A girl could get used to this." She sighed as she leaned back into the chair, the cushion positioned just right for her head. She had her hair tied back in a long braid and for a fun release she had changed the color back to red the night they had got there. She wore a loose fitting and comfortable light blue dress that felt wonderful in Luminar's heat.  
"So what are you planning for tonight?"  
  
Harper sipped his beer a moment before answering. "I hadn't really decided yet. Trying to decide if I want to go back to that club we went to last night, or..." he took another sip or rather, a gulp of beer, "or I thought about going down to the bar/restaurant thing we ate at that first night." Taking a few more gulps he finished the beer and tossed it into the cooler. "What about you? Got any plans?" Harper grinned at her. "You can come if ya want to."  
"Thanks, but no thanks Harper. As funny as it was last night to see that woman throw her drink in your face I think I'll just stay in tonight. I've got a date with the hot tub." Putting the bookmark over her page she closed the book and stood up to enter the house. "By the way, what did you say to her anyway?" Beka stopped at the door, one hand still on the doorknob the other holding her book to her side. A grin spread over her face as she watched a hurt-yet- innocent look crossed over Harpers.  
  
"Nothing... I didn't say anything." His voice was filled with indignation. Beka just laughed as she went inside.  
  
8 hours later  
  
It was late, several hours passed midnight. The bar Harper had finally decided on was nearly deserted and the music playing in the background was quickly putting a very tipsy Harper to sleep. Paying for the two bottles the bar tender had offered him earlier he made his way to the door and back to down to his lodge.  
  
Quietly he shut the door behind him wincing at how loud the door seemed as it clicked shut behind him. Making his way through the room he made it to what served as a small kitchenette and placed the two bottles on the table. He tried to reread the labels but the words were written in the language of the locals -which was beyond even a sober Harper's capability to read.  
  
Since tomorrow night would be the last night for their vacation Harper wanted to get something special to end the two week break he and Beka had shared. When he had asked the bar tender if he had anything sweet but without alcohol (knowing Beka wouldn't drink it) the bartender had suggested the two bottles.  
  
But of course Harper's brain was far too muddled to realize that the bar tender that night was not the same one that had been there when he had come before, so he could not have realized that this poor being was a good friend of the previous bartender whom had left suddenly that day because of an emergency. Nor could Harper have realized that this poor friend knew only a few words of Common and even less about drinks...especially drinks for humans.  
  
So being who Harper was,he had innocently accepted the bottles of 'sparkling juice' as his muddled brain had deemed it, and left. Shrugging his shoulders Harper turned around and stumbled into his room falling onto his bed without bothering to change his clothes or to get under the covers.  
  
From her doorway Beka smiled. She had immediately relaxed the moment Harper had stepped through the door. She always worried when it got to be after dark and Harper wasn't where she could keep an eye on him. Especially when he was without one of the other crew members, and doubly so when there was alcohol involved. For Harper trouble seemed to follow him around, and sometimes he unwittingly ran into it. She smiled again as she closed her door to finally go to sleep.  
  
The next day Beka let Harper sleep in for most of the morning right on past noon. Content in the knowledge that he would be passed out for as long as she left him alone, (so she wouldn't have to worry about him getting into trouble) she enjoyed the morning and early afternoon shopping and even enjoyed the beach.  
  
At three in the afternoon she finally decided to get Harper up.  
  
Opening the door she shook the sleeping engineer until he groggily sat up rubbing his eyes, and shoved a cup of coffee into his hands. Ten minutes later she heard the sounds of the shower running as she sat at the table studying the bottles Harper had bought the night before. It was another twenty minutes before Harper came into the kitchen, wearing a sleeveless white shirt under one of his numerous Hawaiian shirts and a pair of his tan shorts, a towel in hand as he set about drying his still dripping hair.  
"So what's the plan for tonight then, boss?" He asked dropping the towel over the back of his chair and moving to fix himself another cup of coffee. He breathed in the wonderful aroma and sighed with delight. Beka cocked her head to the side watching the younger man,  
  
"I thought we'd go out to eat at that restaurant we passed the other night. After that I thought we'd just wing it and see what comes to mind."  
  
She sipped at her own mug before asking, "So what's this stuff?" she indicated the bottles on the table next to her, one eyebrow lifting in slight curiosity.  
  
"Figured we should have something special since its our last night here and all. Don't worry it doesn't have any alcohol or nothing, bartender said it was sparkling juice or at least the local equivalent." He gulped down the last of his steaming coffee before pouring himself another mug full. Finishing her own coffee she went to her room to change for the evening. The restaurant she had planned wasn't overly fancy but she wanted her last night here to be special since she wasn't sure when she was likely to come here again, so she went to put on something a little more feminine.  
  
The evening had been truly enjoyable for the both of them. After dinner the two had left to wonder the streets and to see the shops and sights they had not yet seen. Halfway down from the street from their lodge they found a pastry shop. Buying several different types of pastry's; some human and some of the local variety they headed back to the lodge to enjoy the evening with the pastry's and the 'juice' that Harper had bought.  
  
Once inside they headed out onto the back deck to watch the sun sink below the horizon as they sipped the berry juice and tried the different goodies they had acquired. Curled up in one of the seats, eating what looked to be akin to a brownie, Beka smiled sheepishly after she hiccupped for the second time. "Whatever this stuff is it's good."  
  
She poured herself another glass, was it her third or was it her fourth? She couldn't remember, but strangely she didn't care, nor did she care (at least she wouldn't have if she had realized) that she was feeling very, very odd. She felt more relaxed now than she could remember ever having been, nor had she ever felt as giddy as she did right then. She looked over at Harper as he sipped at his glass, a grin spreading across his lips and she knew he felt the same way too.  
  
Realizing that the bottle was gone she made a move to stand up her glass in hand but a sudden feeling of vertigo followed her and she fell right into Harpers lap spilling her drink right down the front of his shirt and splashing the rest down her own. For moment silence hung in the air. She had one hand on his thigh trying to keep from falling over the other was clutched around the glass holding it to her chest afraid she might drop it.  
  
Then Harper began to giggle and she found herself doing the same. She knew somewhere in the back of her mind that she was acting odd, that something weird was happening but that part of her brain had been sectioned off and wasn't in control. Standing up fully she grabbed Harpers wrist and pulled him up after her as she went into the kitchen. She grabbed the other bottle pulled off the lid and poured herself another glass immediately taking another gulp of the sweet liquid relishing the slightly tart flavor as it rolled over her tongue.  
  
"Come on..." she latched onto Harpers wrist yet again, the second bottle tucked under her arm, her glass in hand.  
  
"Where we goin' to" Harper slurred. He had had most of the first bottle himself and was squinting trying to keep things in focus as they walked.  
  
"You need a new shirt" she grinned back at him "and so do I", the lack of focus on her walking nearly making her loose her balance; but after a moment she recovered and they stumbled into Harpers room.  
  
Harper, being so unstable, opted to sit on the bed, his usual reluctance at taking off his shirt around others completely gone, he too could hear a voice in the back of his head practically screaming at him to realize something was wrong but the voice was distant and it was faint. He fumbled with his shirt trying to pull it over his head, but he found he was too far gone to do the task him self and called out for help. A giggling Beka kneeled down beside him, her glass and the bottle set on the night stand beside her. She helped the young man pull his shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor. She sat there on the floor looking up at him, and she giggled again because he was staring at her strangely.  
  
Before she knew what was happening his right hand had been placed behind her head and his lips had found hers. For a moment she sat there stunned as he kissed her. When he finally let go she looked up at him and giggled yet again, and he did the same. Both reached over to the night stand he reached over for the bottle his glass having been left somewhere that he could no longer remember, he took several swigs right from the bottle as Beka did the same from her own filled glass. Setting her glass down she pulled off her own shirt and tossed it in the same direction as his.  
  
This time after they had both sipped at the 'juice' she reached up to him grabbing him by the hair and kissing him hard on the mouth before letting go and giggling yet again. Moving away from him she finished off her glass before dropping it to the floor and watching him with shining eyes. She felt so weird and every time she sipped the strange liquid she felt like she was going to die of heat. Sweat beaded at her forehead and she could see it glistening on Harpers as he watched her watching him. A grin spread across his face before he too started to giggle and laugh at nothing.  
  
Next morning  
  
Golden sunlight shined through the window pouring down onto the bed. Beka groaned; her head was pounding with a headache she hadn't thought could possibly exist. Opening her eyes she groaned even louder as the light only intensified the pain. Quickly she closed them again and pinched the bridge of her nose as if it would somehow lesson the pain.  
  
Feeling truly sick and in pain and wanting nothing more than to get away from the light she pulled her covers over her head and turned onto her right side. She lay for a minute hoping to fall back into the blissful world of unconsciousness when something hit her. The window in her room wasn't to her left... it was on the right side of the bed. Truly puzzled she poked her head above the covers and carefully opened her eyes .... Only to nearly die from shock. There next to her was a pair of very familiar blue eyes staring back at her. "What the hell...."


	2. Chapter Two

Hello, this is Deirdre. Sorry it took me so long everyone, school has been keeping me very busy lately and I've had no time to write. I realize this isn't very much but I hope it will be enough for you until I get the next part up. I promise I'll have the next part up soon.

Disclaimer: I own no part of Andromeda or its characters, just in case you weren't too sure of that before.

Rating: PG (some vague references to mature stuff)

Part 2

Harper's face contorted in pain as a monster of a headache brought him to consciousness. "Ohhh, what hit me?" he whined pitifully under his breath. He laid one arm over his eyes as the early morning light only added to his pain. Rolling over on to his left side he noticed someone else beside him. A small bit of blonde hair could be seen above the pillows though most of her head was still hidden beneath the covers. Harper began to grin to himself but it quickly began to fade into a puzzled frown when he tried to think back to the night before and couldn't remember anything. The girl shifted positions and Harpers puzzled frown turned into a look of pure horror when he saw who poked her head above the covers.

"What the hell?" Beka saw the look of horror cross Harper's face the instant she saw him. For nearly thirty seconds they both lay there staring at each other, then as one both frantically tried to get off the bed. Harper on the verge of panic got his foot caught in the covers as he scrambled out of the bed. Beka could hear him issue a cry as he fell face first to the carpeted floor. So desperate to get off the bed Beka nearly fell to the floor when she realized almost too late that she wasn't clothed.

Hiding on either side of the bed with only their heads peeking over the sides at each other Beka couldn't keep her rising anger and confusion at bay any longer. "Harper what did you do?" Her cheeks had gone red from embarrassment and anger. "I... I don't know... HEY! Why is this automatically MY fault?!" his eyes were wide and frantic. "Just because we are in my room in my bed DOESN'T mean _I_ did something." He rubbed at his eyes the light was making them water and causing tears to roll down his flushed cheeks and the yelling was making his headache worse. Looking over to Beka he knew she must feel the same.

"Okay. Okay. Lets just ...uh get dressed and then we can talk about this." She pulled one of the sheets off of Harpers bed which she quickly wrapped around herself before fleeing to the safety of her own room.

Nearly an hour later Beka emerged from her room and went to the small kitchen to fix herself a cup of coffee. Her hair still damp from the shower she had taken but she hardly noticed. She had pulled on a pair of black pants and a plain blue tank top. As she reached the kitchen she noticed that Harper was already there; his own hair just as damp as her own. He had pulled on one of his numerous pairs of brown pants and wore one of his Hawaiian shirts, though he had buttoned every single button and when he looked up at her she could have sworn his cheeks had turned the color of a cherry. Suddenly she felt very exposed and crossed her arms across her chest and ran her hands lightly over her bare arms. Leaning against the counter she watched Harper hurry out of her way and sit at the table in the chair farthest from her, his eyes focused on the oh so interesting cup in his hands.. "Sooo..." she looked him over once, his cheeks were still very bright and she knew from the heat in her own that she must be just as red.

"Hmm, have you uh... hmm... You haven't been able to remember anything... have you...?" she asked. Her headache had lessoned some during her shower but hadn't fully left either. Worse still was she couldn't remember very much from the night before. "Uh..." Harpers voice cracked when he tried to speak so clearing his throat and sipping his coffee he tried again, "Uh... not so much. I remember going to dinner, then ahhh..." he sipped at his coffee again, his cheeks seeming to turn a brighter shade of red, "ahhh, then I remember coming back here... but ... uh... nothing else." He sipped his coffee yet again trying to hide behind the mug. Beka knew exactly how he felt; she had poured herself a mug full and was sipping at it. "Yeah, same here" She bit her lip lightly trying to remember anything from the night before but it was a complete haze.

"Ahhh..."frustration taking over she set her mug down hard on the counter, dark liquid sloshing over the side. "Come on." She growled as she took Harper by the wrist. The poor boy nearly spilling his coffee as he tried to quickly set it on the table before being dragged back towards his room.

"Ahh Beka..." he hesitated to ask what it was she was doing because in truth she was beginning to scare him. "I want to know what happened last night, and maybe something in here will tell us." She let go of his wrist as they entered his room. Looking about the floor it didn't take her long to find her discarded clothes. Bending over she picked them up noticing the dark purple stain on the shirt. Harper was beside her looking at his own discarded shirt noticing the same stain, and where his shirt had been was what looked like a wine glass. Further investigation revealed a bottle which they could only assume was what held whatever the dark liquid had been.

"You got me DRUNK!" Beka asked. She couldn't believe it, she didn't drink and no one could make her drink if she didn't want to. "How the hell did you get me drunk?" She sat on the bed, her head in her hands, and her confusion at its peak. Harper for his part looked just as perplexed, "I don't get it I remember getting this the other night, but the barkeep said it was just juice..." he shook his head in a futile attempt to remove the fog that hid his memories.

Beka stood up and started to pace the room, one hand on her hip the other pinching the bridge of her nose. "Okay, this is what we do. We don't know what happened last night. Maybe nothing happened. Maybe we uhh... just fell onto the bed with out our clothes on.... Ohh" her face fell into a frown. Frustrated Beka started to pace the room her arms crossed against her stomach. "Alright look, you don't remember what happened and I don't remember what happened. As far as we know, nothing happened. So let's just try to forget it alright" Her lips held a weak smile and her voice, though she tried to control it, hinted at the desperation and near panic she felt inside. Hastily she gathered up the clothes she had left behind the night before and started to leave the room.

Harper sighed in relief. He could do that. He could forget what had happened here last night and this morning. He gave a grunt of frustration as he flopped down onto his bed, who was he kidding? He might have slept with Beka, the woman that was practically an older sister to him and he couldn't remember!! He buried his head under the pillows wishing he had never brought back that bottle of so-called juice. So focused on his thoughts he nearly fell off the bed again when Beka came storming back into his room, her face red with what he couldn't tell was anger or embarrassment. "By _NO _means are you to say anything to anyone! Got that!" She stared at him until he nodded his head.


End file.
